unfeigned

regret. Shocked at the circumstances which had given birth to the acquisition, I felt it as a painful weight which depressed my mind, and from which to be free I would have given the world had I possessed it. But having communicated the letter to Mr. Howard, he represented it to me in ajuster point of view; tho' in reading it to himself I observed that he blushed indignant at the unfeeling hints with which the epistle is interspersed.
I ought to consider, he said, that the obligation of soliciting this annuity was inferior to the claims, which in my present situation justice alone, independent of humanity, gave me upon my relations; and that as an acquittal of the great debt owing me from their kindness and attention, this salary had doubtless been procured, which was evidently designed to extinguish all future expectations.
As Mr. Howard perceived however that I was vexed and ashamed, and as

yet undetermined how to act, delicacy made him forbear any other advice on the subject than merely that which I had at first solicited and which naturally resulted from reading the letter; and as my happiness and advantage were the sole ideas that dictated his sentiments, he thought these acquirements would not readily be the production of a measure which even in prospect gave birth to such uneasiness. He therefore concluded, with a feeling peculiar to his disposition, it must be confessed that our good sister's notions of affluence are not the most romantic in the world; therefore while she thought she possessed the power of procuring you what she herself esteems the chief good in life, and which no doubt bestows many valuable and rational gratifications, she scrupled not by what means the advantage was gained, tho' a little more delicacy exerted in the transaction had probably given it a very different

aspect to what it now wears. However she meant all for the best, tho' it cannot be denied that to talk to her of ease, comfort, and compleat independence on forty or fifty pounds a year, is to present different shades of colour before eyes whose organs have been from infancy impaired. Indeed the happy disposition that gives existence to such sentiments, is beyond, infinitely beyond the reach of adverse fortune; and is in itself a blessing which no worldly acquisitions can confer.
By praise so delicate, Mr. Howard laboured to convince me, that however I should determine, his opinion should follow mine; and that if my resolution was to give way to pique, and to reject this seeming compromise with my family, he on his part should rather applaud than blame the spirit that induced me to refuse